To a Stranger - The Golden Palominos

It was the hour you make confidences to a stranger

It seemed I’d become nearly human enough to think of another person’s trouble

And we were fellow strangers, then

It was the hour you make confidences to a stranger

Tell me all your secrets, tell me

Tell me all your secrets, tell me

I can’t believe it you, but I can keep a promise (tell me)

So tell me, tell me all your secrets

The day is so full of noise it might make you feel better

It was one of my favorite years

It was my favorite year

And I thought to myself, «I remember, this is what hope feels like»

Standing at the other end of your favorite year, you remember

That when you posses a thing securely, you need never use it

Hold back and let go, hold back and let go, let go

Hold back and let go, hold back and let go, let go

Despair can always produce an answer, and despair asks me now

«Would you rather it was love and not lust?

Would you rather it was love and not lust?»

In cafes (Hold back and let go)

On sidewalks (Hold back and let go, let go)

That man is waving at me!

That man is waving at me!

On a trip to the bookstore, or just sit down for awhile in the park

That man is waving at me, that man is looking at me (Hold back and let go,

hold back and let go, let go)

To lie flat, to be pressed down upon (Hold back and let go)

Your weight, your legs, your breath (Hold back and let go, hold back and let go,

let go)

Your… your… your… (Hold back and let go, hold back and let go, let go)

And that name will dampen every mood of happiness or fun or

Exhilaration with its reminder that love dies, and afternoon and

Habit with the day

So good… so good… so good…

Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it, so good…

It was the hour you make confidences to a stranger (so good)

It seemed I’d become nearly human enough to think of another person’s trouble

(so good)

And we were fellow strangers, then (so good)

It was the hour you make confidences to a stranger (so good)

I discovered that I measured love by the extent of my jealousy

Did I get it wrong?

(Would you rather it was love and not lust?)

It was though our love were a creature caught in a trap and bleeding to death,

I had to shut my eyes and wring it’s neck

(Would you rather it was love and not lust?)

Did I get it wrong?

Did I get it wrong?

Did I?

Did I get it wrong?

(Would you rather it was love and not lust?) (Yes)

Tell me all your secrets, tell me

Tell me all your secrets, tell me

I’ll be watching, believe me, will you talk to me?

It was the hour you make confidences to a stranger (I said it wrong)

Would you rather it was love and not lust?

How strange too and unfamiliar to think that one had been loved,

that one’s presence had once had the power to make a difference between

happiness and dullness in another’s day?

Would you rather it was love and not lust?

(Tell me, tell me all your secrets,

tell me, tell me all your secrets, tell me)

And as you carry on with the dance of exposure and camouflage

You hold back and let go, hold back and let go

Hold back and let go, let go

Hold back and let go, hold back and let go, let go

And you can justify it in any way to make yourself feel better

And you try to think about different ways that you can justify it

So you can feel a little better

(Hold back and let go, hold back and let go, let go)